Matt Kennerknecht's Freshman Winter Quarter

The cliche, “no pain, no gain,” is an oversimplified way of summarizing the winter quarter in my freshman year at Stanford. With 18 units of class, time in the gym almost every day, and plenty of golf to fill up my afternoons, free time is almost non-existent. At first glance, my schedule is a grind, to say the least. Time management, something that I’ve always prided myself on, is now a whole new ball game; operating on a day-to-day basis seemed to be the only way to tackle all this, starting out in early January, but I soon discovered that success was going to require a whole different level of commitment and planning. More than half-way finished, though, I can say that I’m in the best shape of my life, closer and closer to a performance breakthrough, and working as productively and efficiently as I ever have in school. The work is paying off tremendously, and I’m learning more about myself every day as a student, as an athlete, and as a person. Friends and family from home, over a recent long weekend, have commented on how much I’ve matured in just the last eight weeks. This, I’m learning, is why people come to Stanford. Students, alumni, and faculty alike, hold themselves to almost unrealistic expectations, and push until they get there. They harbor an unmatched level of motivation, constantly raising the bar for those around them. Just within the golf program, I’m fortunate to be surrounded by some of the best players, best coaches, and hardest working student-athletes in the country; with a little over three months left until finals in June, I can’t wait to see where I am after just one year at Stanford.

Graham Brockington on 1st Quarter at Stanford

Now that I have one quarter here at Stanford under my belt, I am feeling much more comfortable here and am really beginning to enjoy my time even more than I did last quarter. Now I know a full fifth of the campus and don't need to look at my map to get to every class!

I had a good winter break at home with my family and got to see some of my old friends. But now I am really happy to be back on the farm in new classes and to be back with the team. What I am especially looking forward to are the upcoming qualifying rounds and the chance to get into the team lineup and play in some tournaments. Since the team won the first tournament after coming back from winter break, I think that we are all even more pumped to keep up the good play and continue to win. Go Card!

Freshman Steve Ziegler on just missing qualifying

I arrived at Stanford and was immediately thrown into the new experience of being a collegiate student-athlete. I still remember how I felt excited, scared, anxious, and curious I was to see how the schoolwork and the golf would be.
At our first practice I remember playing a bunker game with Daniel and Joseph where we had to land our ball on golf towels laid out at various distances. We had to hit each towel a certain number of times before we could leave. Daniel and Joseph both finished the drill when I was approximately half way done. Immediately I became frustrated I was behind, but I ground it out and finally finished the drill. I remarked on how close I was getting to the towels and how I was inches away from finishing the drill much sooner. Daniel turned to me with a straight face and said, “Well, get better Ziegler!” but he couldn’t hold his serious face for long and let out a big grin. We laughed and I brushed it off, but then again there was some merit to his statement.
The season progressed and I was routinely one spot on the wrong side of every cut. At practice, we’d primarily play games around the green where the worst three out of nine guys would receive extra biking with coach after our already killer workouts. The first couple of times I thought I played well just to find myself in the seventh spot. Similarly, in qualifying a lot of times I ended up one or two strokes away from filling out the team (the one that hurt the most was missing going to Isleworth by one shot and thus missing hanging with Tiger for a couple days). I guess Lim was right, I needed to get better.
I finally got my first chance to play in a tournament at PGA West in Palm Springs. I’ll never forget how nervous I was for the front nine of that tournament. I have played a lot of tournament golf before but I was tight as a drum; I couldn’t put a swing on the ball I made a quadruple-bogey on my eighth hole and played my first nine in nine over par! However, I pulled it together and finished four under on my second nine for a sensational 77. I played well the rest of the week and everything turned out to be ok.
Another memorable round was during qualifying to go to Cordevalle. I was tied with Daniel after two rounds so it came down to a heads-up match at the Peninsula Club. For one of the few rounds of the season, I got my putter working and ended up shooting 66 (Daniel shot 71) It was a gratifying feeling no doubt to pull off a good round when I needed it. In hindsight, as we were shaking hands I should have told Daniel that I was just listening to his advice.
Steve Ziegler

Jordan Cox on his motivated teammates

This fall quarter was my most enjoyable golf experience at Stanford thus far. To say that I wasn’t disappointed not to have a team win would be far from the truth; however, winning isn’t everything in a golf. Getting to know the 4 new freshmen and interacting with the team this past quarter was awesome. The great part about this team is that aside from having one of the best teams in the country, we have a group of motivated individuals who are genuinely great people.

The team traveled to Japan, Chicago, Palm Springs, Florida, and San Jose, California. What can be better than getting to travel the country to play golf with good friends and getting a Stanford education on top of that? In my opinion aren’t too many things better in life. To add to the fun, the guys on this team are some of the most competitive people I have ever met in my life. This is great because it pushes everyone on the team to constantly get better. In practice, on the golf course, and even in the weight room, the guys on the team are always trying to one up each other. It has helped my game in a large way and I am now playing some of the best golf of my life.


I would have to say that the most memorable experience this fall was traveling to Sonoma with the team and playing Mayacama golf club. This was amazing because we got to play Mayacama, one of the most beautiful golf courses in northern California, and everyone of the team spent several days together doing what we love the most. Golf! I think this trip is one of the reasons why the team bonded to well so early in the season and is going to be an event that helped ump start a successful season. Essentially we were living together and doing absolutely everything together. It will go down as one of my favorite golf trips at Stanford without a doubt. It is a privilege to be a part of the Stanford golf team, and I wear the block “S” on my chest with pride. Go Cardinal!

Jordan Cox, sophomore

Freshman Sihwan Kim on his Fall season

When I first heard that I’m going to Japan for Topy Cup, I was super pump up to play in collegiate tournament for the first time. I didn’t quite know what to do after the announcement but to practice hard as I can to help my team out to win the tournament oversea. We fought hard in Japan, all of us grinded to get that first victory of the year. Although we finished 3rd in the field, I thought we did pretty well with all that pressure on top of us as defending NCAA Champions. We had a lot of fun over at Japan during and after the tournament and that will forever be in my memory.
My first work out was a total disaster. We did 300 yard shuttles 3 times and I was gone. I couldn’t walk for four days straight after that and I played one of the worst rounds of the year. The second work out was even more disastrous. We did 1000 YARD SUICIDES TWICE!!!!! I never felt more physically challenged in my life and my heart was about to burst out of my body. My body felt heavy all that weak. I still have a lot of trouble with work outs in the morning. But I’m super excited and happy that I’m getting stronger every second I work out in the morning.

The best part about the Stanford Men’s Golf team is its members. Coach Ray, Coach Tight, Grube, Dodge, Lim, Cox, JB, Zigs, Graham, Sultan and Me. It is a lot fun to play with these guys because they all have different playing styles and personalities on the golf course. When we go to tournaments, we support each other a lot. We pump each other up on the golf course and in the team meeting. It is just amazing what a team can do with your mind set. I personally think that I become very positive around the team.

Freshman, Sihwan Kim

Junior Daniel Lim on his Fall experiences

For me, the season with the Stanford men's golf team started out with
an exciting trip to Japan. It was great to see my old teammates again,
joking with them, giving them a hard time, especially the new
freshmen and in particular Sihwan Kim. The atmosphere in the beginning is always different and challenging because of new faces, but I knew Sihwan from
earlier days so he was able to fit right in with the team.

Besides watching Spiderman 3 twice and Fantastic Four a couple times, the
plane ride to Japan was tiring, yet exciting. For this tournament, the
highlight of my round was birdieing four holes in a row to contribute
to the team and put our team in position to win. It's moments like
these, where I fight for the team and seeing others fight for the team
as well, that makes being apart of Stanford men's golf fun. Not only
are you rewarded with the satisfaction of playing well, but your
teammates appreciate the effort ten times more.

The other moment that parallels this experience is when Graham and I teamed up in a short-game competition on the putting green. Six tees were set up to a small hole and the team took turn at each tee trying to make the put. If one
person missed, the team would have to start over from the beginning.
Time proved that going last as a good thing, and we were lucky enough
to be in that position. After seeing many teams show much frustration,
Graham and I pumped each other up convincing ourselves we'd to the
best and to stay patient. When the last put fell in only one turn
without any failure, a perfect score, Graham and I not only
congratulated each other, put the it pumped our team up as well, due
to the showcase of support and approval.

In all, this fall has been great with lots of hard work from each team member. We've grown together as a team and learned to lean on each other because of our own individual strengths, whether it's Grube's leadership for golf,
Graham's dry humor at early morning workouts, Sihwan's passion for his
biceps during extra workouts, or talking to the love doctor Dr. Kemmer
about girls.

Living with Jordan Cox has been enjoyable as well, as we've grown from rivals in high school, to teammates, to friends. Besides waking each other for workouts, I enjoy talking about life and school with him.

Daniel Lim

Dodge Kemmer's most memorable fall

My third fall season has flown by, much like the first two, but this was undoubtedly the most memorable. We kicked off the season by flying to Japan and playing in the Topy Cup collegiate tournament there. While our performance in the tournament did not meet our standards, the rest of the trip was unforgettable. From eating more McDonalds than I ever have here (ask Coach) to climbing the Tokyo tower and seeing downtown Tokyo for 20 miles every way to watching the bullet train fly past at 150mph only 15 feet away from us, Japan captured the distinction of my favorite college trip.
The rest of the season was no less surreal. In Palm Springs we stayed at every 8-65 year old guys’ dream house, equipped with bowling alleys and theatres to watch football, and in Orlando we spent two hours at Tiger’s house wondering how his 3rd Claret Jug didn’t fall off his mantle because it was too full of trophies.
While we played well nearly every tournament, we couldn’t figure out a way to bring home a victory. Two 2nd place finishes have made us that much more hungry—we know we have the ability to dominate college golf, and I believe it is only a matter of time.

Dodge Kemmer